Alberta’s electrical grid is about to get a boost in reliability from a major new natural gas-fired power plant owned in part by Indigenous communities.
Next month operations are scheduled to start at the Cascade Power Project, which will have enough capacity to supply more than eight per cent of Alberta’s energy needs.
It’s good news in a province where just over one month ago an emergency alert suddenly blared on cell phones and other electronic devices warning residents to immediately reduce electricity use to avoid outages.
“Living in an energy-rich province, we sometimes take electricity for granted,” says Chana Martineau, CEO of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) and member of the Frog Lake First Nation.
“Given much of the province was dealing with -40C weather at the time, that alert was a vivid reminder of the importance of having a reliable electrical grid.”
Cascade Power was the first project to receive funding through the AIOC, the provincial corporation established in 2020 to provide loan guarantees for Indigenous groups seeking partnerships in major development projects.
So far, the AIOC has underwritten more than $500 million in support. This year it has $3 billion available, up from $2 billion in 2023.
In August 2020 it provided a $93 million loan guarantee to the Indigenous Communities Consortium — comprised of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, Enoch Cree Nation, Kehewin Cree Nation, O’Chiese First Nation, Paul First Nation, and Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake First Nation — to become equity owners.
The 900-megawatt, $1.5-billion facility is scheduled to come online in March.
“It’s personally gratifying for me to see how we moved from having Indigenous communities being seen as obstacles to partners in a generation,” says Martineau.
The added capacity brought by Cascade is welcomed by the Alberta Electrical System Operator (AESO), which is responsible for the province’s electrical grid. =
“The AESO welcomes all new forms of generation into the Alberta marketplace, including renewables, thermal, storage, and others,” said Diane Kossman, a spokeswoman for the agency.
“It is imperative that Alberta continue to have sufficient dispatchable generation to serve load during peak demand periods when other forms of generation are not able to contribute in a meaningful way.”
The Cascade project also provides environmental benefits. It is a so-called “combined cycle” power facility, meaning it uses both a gas turbine and a steam turbine simultaneously to produce up to 50 per cent more electricity from the same amount of fuel than a traditional facility.
Once complete, Cascade is expected to be the largest and most efficient combined cycle power plant in Alberta, producing 62 per cent less CO2 than a coal-fired power plant and 30 per cent less CO2 than a typical coal-to-gas conversion.
“This project really is aligned with the goals of Indigenous communities on environmental performance,” says Martineau.
The partnership behind the power plant includes Axium Infrastructure, DIF Capital Partners and Kineticor Resource Corp. along with the Indigenous Communities Consortium.
The nations invested through a partnership with OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest pension funds.
“Innovation is not just what we invest in, but it is also how we invest,” said James Davis, OPTrust’s chief investment officer.
“The participation of six First Nations in the Cascade Power Project is a prime example of what is possible when investors, the government and local communities work together.”
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